Tolar Manufacturing Company begins delivering bus shelters to CapMetro in Austin, Texas in fulfillment of $8M multi-year agreement
LOCATION
The city of Austin is located in the Central Texas region, where the Colorado River crosses the Balcones Escarpment, about 80 miles northeast of San Antonio. As the capital of Texas, Austin is home to more than 1 million residents, making it the state’s fourth-most populous city and the 12th-most populous in the country. Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (CapMetro) provides bus and rail service throughout Austin and the surrounding Central Texas region.
PROJECT SCOPE
Tolar Manufacturing Company, North America’s leader in the design and fabrication of award-winning transit shelters, has begun delivering 149 bus shelters in the first year of a five-year contract with CapMetro. Since 2016, Tolar Manufacturing, through separate competitive-bid contracts, has delivered over 300 bus shelters now installed throughout CapMetro’s service area as the agency continues delivering on its Coordinated Bus Stop Street Furniture Program. With the fulfillment of this agreement, over 850 Tolar Manufacturing built bus shelters and their amenities will be providing a comfortable, safe place for the people of Central Texas to await their bus.
“With hot summer days quickly approaching, our team at Tolar is working diligently to deliver shade-providing bus shelters in Austin,” said Gary Tolar, President and CEO of Tolar Manufacturing Company. “Thinking about all the bus shelters we’ve supplied for cities across Texas over the last 30 years, it’s nice to know that residents from Corpus Christi to Dallas, to Fort Worth, and El Paso to Lubbock to Austin, will be getting some relief from the heat this summer while waiting for their bus.”
With this latest agreement in Austin, Tolar Manufacturing is delivering 139 12-ft and 10 14-ft Signature Brazos model bus shelters from April through August, and an additional 125 shelters over each of the next four years. The bus shelters have been customized to meet the specific needs of CapMetro riders and the unpredictable Central Texas weather. Designed to withstand extreme wind, heavy rain, and intense sun typical in Central Texas, the CapMetro shelters incorporate weather-protecting solid aluminum roof panels and perforated metal walls to provide the most shade and weather protection for passengers. Highly visible, large banner signs provide space for street-side agency branding, while E-paper real-time information signs can be easily installed on the shelters by CapMetro, along with solar lighting to enhance passenger safety and aid bus operators in easily identifying shelter occupancy during night service.
“At CapMetro, our top priority is ensuring the comfort and safety of our customers. We’ve chosen a contemporary shelter design with perforated screens that facilitates good airflow and provides a sense of security for our customers. We’re thrilled to begin installation and know these new shelters will serve a practical purpose, while also enhancing the overall look and feel of our bus stops throughout the Central Texas region,” commented CapMetro Technical Program Manager Moraima Dones.
